Published in 2007 by Quiet Time Press
[standard disclaimer that this book review is solely my opinion, etc. Feel free to disagree with me!]
ABOUT THE BOOK
This book includes a “Mini-Quiz” to help you determine your personal goddess type, and discusses four main goddess archetypes (the Lover, the Mystic Maiden, the Warrior Woman, and the Queen). Turnbull then includes stories about a dozen or so goddesses from around the world, including Isis, Pele, Aphrodite, and Mazu (with each one she also writes some affirmations, mantras, and activities to get in touch with these inner goddesses). She also discusses (in less detail) the concept of the Triple Goddess and the Great Goddess.
THE GOOD
By far the best part of the book was the (re)tellings of the myths about the goddesses from different cultures; Turnbull writes in a way that really helps the modern reader relate to these ancient goddesses. I also like some of the liberties she took with the myths to give the goddesses more agency and power - for example, one of the goddesses she discusses in great detail is Atalanta, the quintessential warrior woman. She’s turned into a lion at the end of her story - spoilers! - which is supposed to be a tragic ending, but in Turnbull’s retelling it’s mostly in good fun, and she gets to live happily ever after with her beau, also in lion form. Or, how Persephone herself devised the plan to eat the pomegranate seeds in order to split her time with her mother and Hades, both of whom she loves. The mantras, affirmations, and activities to connect with your inner goddess are also pretty cool and creative. Because this book is not, strictly speaking, a Pagan book about dealing with deities, but more about archetypes, the activities are less ritual and more like little resolutions in life (for example, she suggests that to attune yourself to Freya, you can indulge yourself in your favorite activities on Fridays).
THE BAD
For one thing, I felt like the description of the archetypes was not really very well thought-out. I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out what makes a Mystic Maiden mystic, based on her description. All of the archetype descriptions wound up all sounding like the same generically confident, independent, and sexy woman, rather than describing distinct but equally valid and powerful types of strength. The chapters on the Triple Goddess and the Great Goddess are also less fleshed out, and her brief chapters on major ways to connect with one’s inner goddess were too perfunct to be useful.
But the one thing that really took the cake was the fact that, despite enumerating some 15+ goddesses and telling you to connect with your “inner goddess”, the book only included a “mini-quiz” that told you only if you were a Lover, Mystic Maiden, Warrior Woman, or Queen! Apparently, to find out who your REAL inner goddess is (as opposed to just the general category), you have to pay $20 on her website online in order to get your “full personality profile”. The book includes a coupon to get the full quiz results for a “substantial discount”, which amounted to all of $5 … I feel like if I shelled out $15 for her book or whatever, I might as well get the stupid quiz in its entirety, but apparently not?! So although the book was in many ways, an enjoyable read, it still felt like I was getting only half the package, and it makes a substantial part of her book kind of useless. So that made me pretty pissed.
TO TAKE WITH A GRAIN OF SALT
This book is primarily about connecting with a goddess archetype, NOT with a real deity (she says so explicitly that she doesn’t want to deal with polytheism).
THE VERDICT
Well, despite the fact that this book was an easy and accessible read with some interesting stories about the Goddess(es), you’re not going to “Discover Your Personal Goddess Type” without shelling out a lot more money via the author’s website. The mini-quiz inside is hardly useful at all (you can find a free version on her website). If you’re looking for a Goddess archetype book, I would recommend getting the older, more challenging but ultimately far more useful The Goddess Within.
1.5 out of 5 stars (was going to give it a 3 for the writing, but I’m halving that because I’m only getting half the story with this book!)